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Roundtable
3: Games of the Year 2003 (and Other Topics)

The
ever-present danger of the Roundtable is that we'll forgo staying on
topic and just bounce from idea to idea with wild abandon. What
follows is a heavily-edited transcript of our latest Roundtable, with
most of the digressions removed for one reason or another. Even
then we managed to skip from Games of the Year 2003 to a number of other
topics including game news stories of the year, the necessity of online gaming,
best graphics, RPGs, Tecmo's "lesbian simulator" and a number
of gaming topics. Your feedback is always welcome, letters@armchairempire.com.

Omni:
Check in.

Kurt:
Right?

Sylvia:
Um.. checking in.

Sidd:
I'm here.

Omni:
Okay let's start.Before we dig into Games of the Year, can you name any 5-star
games that shipped in the first 6 months of 2003?

Sidd:
First six months would be NBA Street Vol 2, Splinter Cell (PS2, PC and
GC), Midnight Club 2.

Kurt:
Guilty Gear X2, almost forgot that. I still dig Saturday morning
cartoons so that's all OK with me. The later parts of the game were
rubbish though. Too much Tingle and sailing. Hot damn, I missed Ikaruga.

Sylvia:
Ikaruga?

Omni:
From Atari for GameCube.

Sylvia:
I thought maybe you meant a staff member of same name.

Kurt:
It's like $20 new at Gamestop now, go buy it immediately.

Omni:
I ask that question -- Can you name any 5-star games that shipped in the
first 6 months of 2003? – for the simple fact that it will be a
miracle if anyone remembers them when it comes time to award Games of
the Year.

Ikaruga
(GC) and Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2)

Sylvia:
I can tell you my favorite games for each genre of 2003

Omni:
Start with Shooters.

Sylvia:
That's easy. It's a tie between Raven Shield for PC and Rainbow Six 3
for Xbox (and they are both different games as they play differently)

Kurt:
The only FPS that sticks out in my mind is Deus Ex Invisible War – and
that's more of an adventure/RPG than a shooter. I guess you could almost
stick Max Payne 2 and Freedom Fighters in there...

Omni:
And Invisible War was released in the closing months of 2003.

Sylvia:
Well as far as that type of shooter – 3rd Person – I
really enjoyed Panzer Dragoon Orta.

Sidd:I would have to say the most outstanding FPS I played last year
was Call of Duty for PC.

Kurt:
I watched one of my friends play Call of Duty, looked damn awesome. I'll
wait for the console port though.

Sylvia:
Call of Duty is amazing, a perfect 10 in my book. But it's the kind of
game that needs to be played on a PC.

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Sidd:
Yeah. I am looking forward to the console version, which are supposed to
be released in June. However, the console versions have different
titles, which could mean different missions or style of play. I have my
fingers crossed for online play.

Sylvia:
Who knows, maybe they can make it just as appealing when it's ported...

Sylvia:
Excuse me? Some FPS play better on PC, some play good on both.

Sidd:
Yeah.

Sylvia:
I didn't say I was right, I said it was my opinion.

Omni:
And opinion is what we want.I just saw that as the first step to a Console vs. PC debate.I've had enough of those.

Sylvia:
I don't get into that, I'm not a fangirl of any sorts...

Omni:
How about in the arena of Platformers?

Sylvia:
My favorite platformers, hmmm…Whiplash.

Kurt:
Ratchet and Clank Going Commando, undoubtedly.

Sidd:2003 was a pretty good year for Platformers. I hated Whiplash.
The humor was great, but the game play was dull and boring.

Sylvia:
Whiplash was just too entertaining. I played it for an
entire weekend. It was a good break from my average serious gaming.

Omni:
Even with competition from Jak II and R&C 2?

Sidd:
Ratchet and Clank 2 was great. I regret not seeing Sly Cooper 2 being
announced yet. I heard that Sly Cooper 2 was supposed to be announced at
E3 last year, but there is speculation that it could be announced at E3
this year.

Omni:
Soul Calibur 2 and VF4 Evolution seem to be grabbing the most attention.

Kurt:
Guilty Gear X2

Sylvia:
Soul Calibur 2 although I spent most of my 'fighter' gaming playing
Capcom vs SNK on Xbox live.

Kurt:
I've gotten to kinda like 3D fighters after SC2 and VF4, but I get more
excited about a new King of Fighters being release. I really hope those
SvC Chaos and GGXX# Reload Xbox ports hit America, I'd get Xbox live for
those.

Kurt:
I've barely gotten into Mario & Luigi otherwise I might agree
with you. I've never played Morrowind, I thought about grabbing the
newer edition they just put out though

Sylvia:
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of The Underdark. That's my favorite RPG on
PC for the year...

Omni:
No doubt KOTOR is a solid game and as a product of a Canadian company I
am bound to support it, but I spent way more hours playing Morrowind
GOTYE.

Sylvia:
I put 200 hours into Morrowind on PC before it even got to Xbox.

Kurt:
Ubi Soft Montreal is rocking all over, what with Splinter Cell and
Prince of Persia. They've really surprised me.

Sidd:
Didn't Ubi Soft also make Rainbow Six?

Omni:
Yep.

Knights
of the Old Republic (PC) and Rainbow Six 3 (XB)

Kurt:
I never got into PC RPGs very much – seemed like too much aimless
wandering around. Then again I only ever played the later Ultimas.
Nothing else really appealed to me.

Omni:
They're just too damn long!

Kurt:
Yeah, I'm too damned lazy. If I see "RPG" and
"expansive" put together, I'll probably avoid it. I've been
meaning to attempt Fallout though - the original one, anyway.

Omni:
And if it isn't "expansive" then the RPG diehards rip it to
shreds.

Sylvia:
There are a lot of 'cliche' attitudes in the gaming world, I just ignore
them. I like what I like… and that's that. I own every console there
is and a high end PC, if a good game comes along I play it.

Kurt:
Cliche? What kind do you speak of?

Sylvia:
Well there is the "bash Microsoft"club, then there is the "bash PS2 club" then there is
the "hate tactical shooter club" then there is the "I
hate respawn FPS club" then there is "I only play Japanese RPG
club"... etc. etc.

Kurt:
People just sorta stick with what they know, so you can't really
blame someone if they only stick with one genre they really like.

Sylvia:
If I stuck with what I knew I'd still be playing Bards Tale on
Commodore 64.

Omni:
Okay, maybe we'll hit the more general Game of Year topics:Best graphics?

Kurt:
I never thought I would've liked Max Payne 2 until I had to review it
– as it turns out, I’m loving it (once I got the Xbox one anyway).I was playing the original earlier today - the monologues connect
with me in some deep spiritual way I can't fathom.

Sylvia:
Best Graphics… um...Matrix on HDTV (1080i support) was fabulous. If you saw it on
a regular set without HDTV it was awful.

Lee:
Project Gotham Racing 2 had some revved up good-looking graphics.
Although it looks like Gran Turismo 4 will redefine realistic racing
graphics.

Tolen:
Neither game is as pretty as the Far Cry demo though – just lovely.

Omni:
What was the most overblown story of 2003?(I'm thinking in news surrounding the gaming industry.)

Tolen:
Square going to Nintendo.

Sylvia:
Microsoft buying Rare.

Omni:
How about Microsoft buying Rare?

Kurt:
The existence of the N-Gage

Lee:
You mean totally UN-eN-Gaging.

Tolen:
Yeah, the Rare story really seems lame now that their game design has
become so uninspiring.

Lee:
That has to be one of the gaming industry's biggest blunders ever.

Sylvia:
Bah, and all we got was Grabbed by the Ghoulies. What a waste.

Kurt:
I can't wait until it hits the bargain bin, then I can buy one and keep
it by my bedside so I can laugh at it every day. Microsoft MUST have bought
Rare in hopes to get some kiddie games out of them or something

Tolen:
Of course, Perfect Dark: Zero might shut us up.

Omni:
Even though it seems to have gone the "cute" route?

Sylvia:
Rare has some things planned for 2004. Don't write them off yet.

Kurt:
Dude, yeah, that Conker re-release looks like it'll set the industry
ablaze

Sylvia:
One game is hardly a telltale... at least, yet… give them 2 more
chances.

Tolen:
Wouldn't ever write Rare off, even if they are suddenly in love with the
pre-teen market. Conker was certainly not aimed at the Disney crowd.

Kurt:
I'm not a fan of Rare, most of their stuff outside of GoldenEye and
Perfect Dark never impressed me.

Lee:
But on the N-Gauge, what a horribly executed system and even worse
looking bunch of game… for $300?? Who did they think would want
original PlayStation quality graphics in today's gaming systems for that
amount of money...just because it's a phone too?? Get REAL, Nokia... EB
can't even give the things away right now!!

Omni:
Plus the games can be cracked "like an egg."

Kurt:
But you can play Pandemonium. ON THE GO! Do you not understand the
incredible ramifications of this?

Tolen:
Did anyone mention that you have to take the battery out to put a
game in – someone really should have caught that in beta.

Kurt:
Someone at Nokia should've just burned the concept plans the minute they
saw them, would've done the company a favor.

Lee:
The new Nintendo handheld (even though it seems to promise WAY more
than what will probably be packed into it) will quickly kill the N-Gage
(and it isn't even a phone!!)

Kurt:
What, that double-screened craziness doohickey?

Omni:
Who knows.We'll see more
at E3.

Tolen:
Is the DS exiciting anyone?

Lee:
The DS seems totally outrageous! But remember, this is the same
company that thought the retina-burning Virtual Boy would be a huge hit!

Omni:
I'm interested.But
Nintendo has to show me something.

Lee:
They said E3 will reveal all their plans for handheld domination!

Kurt:
I'm sure Shigeru Miyamoto and whatever wacky scheme he has cooked up
will do it SOME semblance of good, but other than that...

Tolen:
I wonder if the DS is just to keep the Nintendo name in the news
like the Virtual Boy was?

Omni:
Take some of Sony's thunder away?(I
love SPECULATION!)

Lee:
Yeah, considering they have had to practically give the GameCube away to
put even a minor dent in the PS2 and challenge the Xbox (which they
claimed they outsold with the 4th-quarter GC selling season).

Tolen:
Well, Nintendo certainly has the track record, right down to putting
upcoming games on the Virtual Boy box that weren't even in development.

Kurt:
Man no one respects the Virtual Boy...

Lee:
The optometrists sure did... sent them plenty of new customers!

Tolen:
I loved Red Alarm, Wario, and Nestor's funky bowling.Virtual golf was great.I
still have and play my Virtual Boy, but, then again, I still have and
play every system released in America since the Atari 2600.

Omni:
I don't think anyone at Nintendo or M could have deluded themselves into
thinking they'd crush PS2's grip on the gaming public.

Kurt:
The only way anyone can ever gain control is if Sony does something
massive to screw up.

Sylvia:
PS2 had such an advance start. However, the gaps are closing every
financial quarter. We will see on the next consoles, since they will be
headed out the gate pretty much together... That will tell the true
story